BOOK V

With the fruit of Aladdin's garden clustering thick in her hold,

With rubies awash in her scuppers and her bilge ablaze with gold,

A world in arms behind her to sever her heart from home,

The Golden Hynde drove onward over the glittering foam.

If we go as we came, by the Southward, we meet wi’ the fleets of Spain!

‘ Tis a thousand to one against us: we'll turn to the West again!

We have captured a China pilot, his charts and his golden keys:

We'll sail to the golden Gateway, over the golden seas.

Over the immeasurable molten gold

Wrapped in a golden haze, onward they drew;

And now they saw the tiny purple quay

Grow larger and darker and brighten into brown

Across the swelling sparkle of the waves.

Brown on the quay, a train of tethered mules

Munched at the nose-bags, while a Spaniard drowsed

On guard beside what seemed at first a heap

Of fish, then slowly turned to silver bars

Up-piled and glistering in the enchanted sun.

Nor did that sentry wake as, like a dream,

The Golden Hynde divided the soft sleep

Of warm green lapping water, sidled up,

Sank sail, and moored beside the quay. But Drake,

Lightly leaping ashore and stealing nigh,

Picked up the Spaniard's long gay-ribboned gun

Close to his ear. At once, without a sound,

The watchman opened his dark eyes and stared

As at strange men who suddenly had come,

Borne by some magic carpet, from the stars;

Then, with a courtly bow, his right hand thrust

Within the lace embroideries of his breast.

Politely Drake, with pained apologies

For this disturbance of a cavalier

Napping on guard, straightway resolved to make

Complete amends, by now relieving him

Of these — which doubtless troubled his repose —

These anxious bars of silver. With that word

Two seamen leaped ashore and, gathering up

The bars in a stout old patch of tawny sail,

Slung them aboard. No sooner this was done

Than out o’ the valley, like a foolish jest

Out of the mouth of some great John-a-dreams,

In soft procession of buffoonery

A woolly train of llamas proudly came

Stepping by two and two along the quay,

Laden with pack on pack of silver bars

And driven by a Spaniard. His amaze

The seamen greeted with profuser thanks

For his most punctual thought and opportune

Courtesy. None the less they must avouch

It pained them much to see a cavalier

Turned carrier; and, at once, they must insist

On easing him of that too sordid care.

Then out from Tarapaca once again

They sailed, their hold a glimmering mine of wealth,

Towards Arica and Lima, where they deemed

The prize of prizes waited unaware.

For every year a gorgeous galleon sailed

With all the harvest of Potosi's mines

And precious stones from dead king's diadems,

Aztecs’ and Incas’ gem-encrusted crowns,

Pearls from the glimmering Temples of the Moon,

Rich opals with their milky rainbow-clouds,

White diamonds from the Temples of the Sun,

Carbuncles flaming scarlet, amethysts,

Rubies, and sapphires; these to Spain she brought

To glut her priestly coffers. Now not far

Ahead they deemed she lay upon that coast,

Crammed with the lustrous Indies, wrung with threat

And torture from the naked Indian slaves.

To him that spied her top-sails first a prize

Drake offered of the wondrous chain he wore;

And every seaman, every ship-boy, watched

Not only for the prize, but for their friends,

If haply these had weathered through the storm.

Nor did they know their friends had homeward turned,

Bearing to England and to England's Queen,

And his heart's queen, the tale that Drake was dead.

Northward they cruised along a warm, wild coast

That like a most luxurious goddess drowsed

Supine to heaven, her arms behind her head,

One knee up-thrust to make a mountain-peak,

Her rosy breasts up-heaving their soft snow

In distant Andes, and her naked side

With one rich curve for half a hundred leagues

Bathed by the creaming foam; her heavy hair

Fraught with the perfume of a thousand forests

Tossed round about her beauty: and her mouth

A scarlet mystery of distant flower

Up-turned to take the kisses of the sun.

But like a troop of boys let loose from school

The adventurers went by, startling the stillness

Of that voluptuous dream-encumbered shore

With echoing shouts of laughter and alien song.

But as they came to Arica, from afar

They heard the clash of bells upon the breeze,

And knew that Rumour with her thousand wings

Had rushed before them. Horsemen in the night

Had galloped through the white coast-villages

And spread the dreadful cry “El Draque!” abroad,

And when the gay adventurers drew nigh

They found the quays deserted, and the ships

All flown, except one little fishing-boat

Wherein an old man like a tortoise moved

A wrinkled head above the rusty net

His crawling hands repaired. He seemed to dwell

Outside the world of war and peace, outside

Everything save his daily task, and cared

No whit who else might win or lose; for all

The pilot asked of him without demur

He answered, scarcely looking from his work.

A galleon laden with eight hundred bars

Of silver, not three hours ago had flown

Northward, he muttered. Ere the words were out,

The will of Drake thrilled through the Golden Hynde

Like one sharp trumpet-call, and ere they knew

What power impelled them, crowding on all sail

Northward they surged, and roaring down the wind

At Chiuli, port of Arequipa, saw

The chase at anchor. Wondering they came

With all the gunners waiting at their guns

Bare-armed and silent — nearer, nearer yet,—

Close to the enemy. But no sight or sound

Of living creature stirred upon her decks.

Only a great grey cat lay in the sun

Upon a warm smooth cannon-butt. A chill

Ran through the veins of even the boldest there

At that too peaceful silence. Cautiously

Drake neared her in his pinnace: cautiously,

Cutlass in hand, up that mysterious hull

He clomb, and wondered, as he climbed, to breathe

The friendly smell o’ the pitch and hear the waves

With their incessant old familiar sound

Crackling and slapping against her windward flank.

A ship of dreams was that; for when they reached

The silent deck, they saw no crouching forms,

They heard no sound of life. Only the hot

Creak of the cordage whispered in the sun.

The cat stood up and yawned, and slunk away

Slowly, with furtive glances. The great hold

Was empty, and the rich cabin stripped and bare.

Suddenly one of the seamen with a cry

Pointed where, close inshore, a little boat

Stole towards the town; and, with a louder cry,

Drake bade his men aboard the Golden Hynde.

Scarce had they pulled two hundred yards away

When, with a roar that seemed to buffet the heavens

And rip the heart of the sea out, one red flame

Blackened with fragments, the great galleon burst

Asunder! All the startled waves were strewn

With wreckage; and Drake laughed —

“My lads, we have diced

With death to-day, and won! My merry lads,

It seems that Spain is bolting with the stakes!

Now, if I have to stretch the skies for sails

And summon the blasts of God up from the South

To fill my canvas, I will overhaul

Those dusky devils with the treasure-ship

That holds our hard-earned booty. Pull hard all,

Hard for the Golden Hynde.”

And so they came

At dead of night on Callao de Lima!

They saw the harbour lights across the waves

Glittering, and the shadowy hulks of ships

Gathered together like a flock of sheep

Within the port. With shouts and clink of chains

A shadowy ship was entering from the North,

And like the shadow of that shadow slipped

The Golden Hynde beside her thro’ the gloom;

And side by side they anchored in the port

Amidst the shipping! Over the dark tide

A small boat from the customs-house drew near.

A sleepy, yawning, gold-laced officer

Boarded the Golden Hynde, and with a cry,

Stumbling against a cannon-butt, he saw

The bare-armed British seamen in the gloom

All waiting by their guns. Wildly he plunged

Over the side and urged his boat away,

Crying, “El Draque! El Draque!” At that dread word

The darkness filled with clamour, and the ships,

Cutting their cables, drifted here and there

In mad attempts to seek the open sea.

Wild lights burnt hither and thither, and all the port,

One furnace of confusion, heaved and seethed

In terror; for each shadow of the night,

Nay, the great night itself, was all El Draque.

The Dragon's wings were spread from quay to quay,

The very lights that burnt from mast to mast

And flared across the tide kindled his breath

To fire; while here and there a British pinnace

Slipped softly thro’ the roaring gloom and glare,

Ransacking ship by ship; for each one thought

A fleet had come upon them. Each gave up

The struggle as each was boarded; while, elsewhere,

Cannon to cannon, friends bombarded friends.

Yet not one ounce of treasure in Callao

They found; for, fourteen days before they came,

That greatest treasure-ship of Spain, with all

The gorgeous harvest of that year, had sailed

For Panama: her ballast — silver bars;

Her cargo — rubies, emeralds, and gold.

Out through the clamour and the darkness, out,

Out to the harbour mouth, the Golden Hynde,

Steered by the iron soul of Drake, returned:

And where the way was blocked, her cannon clove

A crimson highway to the midnight sea.

Then Northward, Northward, o'er the jewelled main,

Under the white moon like a storm they drove

In quest of the Cacafuego. Fourteen days

Her start was; and at dawn the fair wind sank,

And chafing lay the Golden Hynde, becalmed;

While, on the hills, the Viceroy of Peru

Marched down from Lima with two thousand men,

And sent out four huge ships of war to sink

Or capture the fierce Dragon. Loud laughed Drake

To see them creeping nigh, urged with great oars,

Then suddenly pause; for none would be the first

To close with him. And, ere they had steeled their hearts

To battle, a fair breeze broke out anew,

And Northward sped the little Golden Hynde

In quest of the lordliest treasure-ship of Spain.

Behind her lay a world in arms; for now

Wrath and confusion clamoured for revenge

From sea to sea. Spain claimed the pirate's head

From England, and awaited his return

With all her tortures. And where'er he passed

He sowed the dragon's teeth, and everywhere

Cadmean broods of armèd men arose

And followed, followed on his fiery trail.

Men toiled at Lima to fit out a fleet

Grim enough to destroy him. All night long

The flare went up from cities on the coast

Where men like naked devils toiled to cast

Cannon that might have overwhelmed the powers

Of Michael when he drave that hideous rout

Through livid chaos to the black abyss.

Small hope indeed there seemed of safe return;

But Northward sped the little Golden Hynde,

The world-watched midget ship of eighteen guns,

Undaunted; and upon the second dawn

Sighted a galleon, not indeed the chase,

Yet worth a pause; for out of her they took —

Embossed with emeralds large as pigeon's eggs —

A golden crucifix, with eighty pounds

In weight of gold. The rest they left behind;

And onward, onward, to the North they flew —

A score of golden miles, a score of green,

An hundred miles, eight hundred miles of foam,

Rainbows and fire, ransacking as they went

Ship after ship for news o’ the chase and gold;

Learning from every capture that they drew

Nearer and nearer. At Truxillo, dim

And dreaming city, a-drowse with purple flowers,

She had paused, ay, paused to take a freight of gold!

At Paita — she had passed two days in front,

Only two days, two days ahead; nay, one!

At Quito, close inshore, a youthful page,

Bright-eyed, ran up the rigging and cried, “A sail!

A sail! The Cacafuego! And the chain

Is mine!” And by the strange cut of her sails,

Whereof they had been told in Callao,

They knew her!

Heavily laden with her gems,

Lazily drifting with her golden fruitage,

Over the magic seas they saw her hull

Loom as they onward drew; but Drake, for fear

The prey might take alarm and run ashore,

Trailed wine-skins, filled with water, over the side

To hold his ship back, till the darkness fell,

And with the night the off-shore wind arose.

At last the sun sank down, the rosy light

Faded from Andes’ peaked and bosomed snow:

The night-wind rose: the wine-skins were up-hauled;

And, like a hound unleashed, the Golden Hynde

Leapt forward thro’ the gloom.

A cable's length

Divided them. The Cacafuego heard

A rough voice in the darkness bidding her

Heave to! She held her course. Drake gave the word.

A broadside shattered the night, and over her side

Her main-yard clattered like a broken wing!

On to her decks the British sea-dogs swarmed,

Cutlass in hand: that fight was at an end.

The ship was cleared, a prize crew placed a-board,

Then both ships turned their heads to the open sea.

At dawn, being out of sight of land, they‘ gan

Examine the great prize. None ever knew

Save Drake and Gloriana what wild wealth

They had captured there. Thus much at least was known:

An hundredweight of gold, and twenty tons

Of silver bullion; thirteen chests of coins;

Nuggets of gold unnumbered; countless pearls,

Diamonds, emeralds; but the worth of these

Was past all reckoning. In the crimson dawn,

Ringed with the lonely pomp of sea and sky,

The naked-footed seamen bathed knee-deep

In gold and gathered up Aladdin's fruit —

All-colored gems — and tossed them in the sun.

The hold like one great elfin orchard gleamed

With dusky globes and tawny glories piled,

Hesperian apples, heap on mellow heap,

Rich with the hues of sunset, rich and ripe

And ready for the enchanted cider-press;

An Emperor's ransom in each burning orb;

A kingdom's purchase in each clustered bough;

The freedom of all slaves in every chain.